


War

by tatooedlaura



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27497302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: War (n.): a game played with a deck of cards to help one person deal with another’s impatience in a bleeping airport in the middle of a bleeping hurricane
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Kudos: 35





	War

War (n.): a game played with a deck of cards to help one person deal with another’s impatience in a bleeping airport in the middle of a bleeping hurricane

&&&&&&&&&&&&

There were times in her life when she knew that if she didn’t do something, shit was going down.

And shit was about to go down.

They were cornered in an airport, rain pummeling the windows, lightning flashing like God’s own paparazzi, Mulder’s bones antsy, flight delayed; stuff of horror movies and hurricane byproducts.

Hurricanes.

They were in damned Nashville, Tennessee where hurricanes shouldn’t be.

But apparently their byproducts landed on Thursday nights in mid-September right when they were supposed to be flying home to comfortable beds and cadaverless dreams.

“Mulder, you are jiggling the entire row of seats. The people at the end are beginning to plot your death and demise.” Placing a warm hand on his bouncing knee, friendly yet authoritative, “stop.”

He was too annoyed by the delay and the humid cold permeating the building to do more than glance down at out-of-the-ordinary contact, “I’ve read two crappy magazines, debated the contents of the hot dog that guy is eating, decided that that couple over there has two kids and are on the verge of a divorce because he wears her underwear when she’s not home.” Finally turning to her, “I’m about to change my shoes and go jogging on a runway so it’s either fear of lightning strike or jiggling knee. Your choice.”

Drastic times and all, “give me five minutes of sitting still while I’m gone and we’ll figure something out once I’m back, all right?”

For her, he’d fight the jiggling urge for six, “I’m counting down.”

But at least he had the distraction of watching her walk away.

The helped.

A lot.

Back before time was up, Scully held out a deck of cards, “War. Dollar a game. Standard rules.”

Well, this was a development, “since when do you play cards?”

“I’m a human being and I am related to my mother. We know how to play cards.”

Studying the cramped area around them, he stood and beckoned her to follow, “I see a corner over there that looks like it might not smell like wet dog.”

Trailing with carryon in hand, soon they were sitting, on folded coats, Scully’s luggage between them serving as a table. Shuffling the deck, she smiled at him, seeing his eyes widen as she did fancy things and slender finger 52-card magic, “what?”

“I’m debating taking you to Vegas?”

“Little wedding chapel or blackjack table?”

“We’ll see how you do at the black jack table and go from there.”

Grinning, she split the deck, “ready?”

“Totally.”

&&&&&&&&

“War!”

Laughing, Scully looked around, meeting the eyes of people staring at them openly, ducking her head in mock embarrassment when really, she was completely amused by Mulder’s enthusiasm for such a simple game. He’d yelled nearly every time identicals came up and the gloating he did when he won, the whining when he lost was just as attention-grabbing.

When he lost the current round of War, her seven beating his three, Mulder turned his mouth down in a pout worthy of any three-year old, “come on! Just one more card, please? You won the last War! This isn’t fair!”

“Fairs are for lovers of cotton candy and elephant ears.”

“And those weird people who like mirror mazes.” Shuddering, “no more talk of fairs, please.”

Putting her hand over the cards, she stopped him from moving them, “one more card, just this once.”

“Whoo-hoo! You are my favorite person right now.”

“Just right now?”

Going the slightest bit pink, he shrugged in that ‘sometime in the future we’ll be more than we are today’ way of his, “remember, Scully, it’s always ‘right now’.”

She quietly cheated so he would win the battle.

It was well worth it for the standing happy dance he did, spinning in a circle and wiggling his hips as he pointed at her, “you lost. You so totally lost!”

And because it was late and the middle of the airport, she leaned back on her hands and gave him a grin that made the crowd smile along with her.

He lost the actual game though but who cared and as he dropped five one-dollar bills, three quarters, two dimes and a sticky nickel to her open hand, he leaned in close, his fingers curling, calling her towards him, and when she was close enough, he kissed her quickly on the cheek, “thanks for keeping me busy tonight.”

“I just didn’t want the rest of these people to kill you. It would have been a long drive home with your corpse strapped to the hood of the car like a deer.”

“You called me your dear.”

“With an ‘e’ Mulder, not an ‘a’.”

“Semantics.”

Twisting around, she wiggling and shifted, then made him wiggle and shift until they were side by side, her head resting against his shoulder, “wake me up when they call our flight.”

Because he knew her and liked her a little bit, he one-handedly dug in his own carryon and pulled out a threadbare thermal bearing a barely discernable faded image of Slimer from Ghostbusters. Gesturing for her to put in on because she would be cold later, she did without a word while he asked, “What if I’m asleep?”

“Then we’ll still be here tomorrow and do it all over again. You know how to play Rummy?”

“Probably not as well as you.”

Snugging back down on his shoulder, warm material and Mulder heating her quickly, she drifted off to sleep, “I’ll teach you all my tricks one day.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind losing to you.”


End file.
